University of Ozarks baseball, softball teams lose at Louisiana College

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10:55 AM, Monday, April 05 2010 | 239 views | 0 | 1 | |

Story date: April 3, 2010

OZARKS SPORTS

INFORMATION

PINEVILLE, La. - Louisiana College overcame Thursday's 8-6 loss and won the series with a pair of 4-2 wins over the University of Ozarks Eagles in American Southwest Conference action Friday.

The Eagles (10-17, 5-6 ASC) led in the first inning of game one after Scott Dietz drove in Mitchell Powers, who had hit a single. The Wildcats (11-17, 4-5 ASC) came back in the bottom half of the first and scored twice to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish. Starter Anthony Vangessel cruised through the next five and one-third innings and allowed just two more hits. Ozarks gave him trouble in the fifth as Dietz drove in a run again to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Starter Cory Briggs scattered eight hits and fanned three in six innings of work. Briggs falls to 2-2. Powers went 3-for-4 and Dietz finished 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Ozarks left 12 runners on base in game two and produced just six hits to take another two-run loss. Louisiana College took a 3-0 lead in the third after recording two hits and taking advantage of an Eagle error. Ozarks eventually generated a run in the fifth on a Tad Turner sacrifice fly.

Ozarks had runners in scoring position in the sixth, eighth and the ninth innings, but only pushed one run across the plate during that span. The Eagles threatened in the eighth by loading the bases, only to see the rally end without scoring a run.

The Wildcats added a run in the eighth to increase its lead to 4-1. Ozarks again threatened in the top of the ninth when Ian Bryan reached on an error. After a strikeout, Chris Driedric drew a walk. After another strikeout, Briggs took a free base and Dietz made things interesting with an RBI single. But Louisiana College got the final out on a play at second base on Jeremy Hogan's fielder's choice.

Dietz went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Bobby Osburn (1-5) took the loss after tossing seven innings and striking out three.

Ozarks will face Arkansas Tech on Tuesday at Tech Field in Russellville.

Lady Eagles drop 2 to No. 1 La. College

Top-ranked Louisiana College threw a combined no-hitter in an 18-0 game one win and then claimed a 10-4 game two victory over the University of Ozarks Lady Eagles Friday in American Southwest Conference play.

Ozarks (7-19, 1-11 ASC) had trouble against All-America pitcher Rene Schwartenburg, who started and tossed three hitless innings. Carli Wheeler finished the final two innings without a hit to keep the no-hitter intact. The Wildcat (29-1, 13-1 ASC) offense pounded out 19 hits and had a 12-run second inning. Stephany Henson (4-9) took the loss.

In game two, Ozarks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a two-run homer by Kelsey Mefford. The Wildcats quickly answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to tie it. Emily Burns' sacrifice RBI gave the Lady Eagles the lead again, but Louisiana College then scored four runs in the bottom half of the second. Ozarks fought back again in the third to record two hits and score one run to cut the deficit to 6-4.

That run came on a Nicole Ashley RBI single. Mefford, who was also the starting pitcher, kept Louisiana College scoreless in the third, but the Lady Eagles weren't so fortunate in the fifth and sixth when Louisiana College plated a combined four runs.